


Not So Lucky

by TheSpaceCoyote



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Blood, Canon Compliant, Healing, Hurt/Comfort, In Game Elements, M/M, Major Character Injury, kind of, mostly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-05 23:36:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14629406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSpaceCoyote/pseuds/TheSpaceCoyote
Summary: Rhys gets injured on a mission to Elpis. Good thing his boyfriends are around to fix him up.





	Not So Lucky

**Author's Note:**

> I've been craving injury fics recently and I just had to do one with these guys!

“G-Guys, I’m fine, c’mon…” Rhys tried to insist, but the waver in his voice betrayed the pain throbbing through his body. He gritted his teeth, hissing as Tim’s fingers carefully rolled the cuff of his pant-leg up to his knee. Still, he tried to be tough, taking a couple of breaths before attempting to speak again.

“Seriously, it’s okay, we really need to—“

“Kiddo, shut up and stop telling us you’re okay.” Jack snapped from besides him. He had both hands firmly planted on Rhys’ shoulder, holding him still in his seat on the ground as Tim examined the wound on his calf. The young man’s teeth clicked as he shut his mouth, trying to figure out where he should look or what he should do. Jack gave both of his shoulders a comforting squeeze, which helped, but not by much.

Through the haze of the pain, Rhys felt his cheeks heat up with embarrassment. They’d scarcely been outside Concordia for an hour before Rhys managed to get himself surrounded by a pack of kraggons. Tim and Jack had dispatched most of them easily, and Rhys had even blown apart one’s skull with a cry bullet between the blazing eyes, but not before a pair of rough, fiery fangs dug into his leg. He remembered screaming as incendiary damage flooded through the limb, sizzling his blood and burning his punctured flesh.

Honestly, he was amazed he hadn’t already passed out, but even that surprising show of endurance couldn’t fight away Rhys’ shame at getting injured. He’d agreed to come on this trip with Jack and Tim to show he wasn’t just some soft pencil-pusher, that he could hold his own on someplace as rough and wild as Elpis.

_So much for that,_ he thought bitterly as Tim stretched his injured leg out against the cool, greenish dust of the ground, giving him a good look at the wound for the first time.

His vision suddenly tilted, swimming with nausea. Something acidic burped up the back of his throat, burning the sensitive skin as he let out a distressed whine. Somehow, it managed to look _worse_ than Rhys had feared. The teeth of the kraggon had clamped around the meat of his calf and dragged violently over his skin, leaving strings of flesh and muscle hanging in its bloody wake.Any patch of skin not streaked with gore burned horribly bright pink, pockets of fluid bubbling up in nasty scorched boils. Tim had taken off his glove, the crevasses in his hands pooling with blood as he assessed the wound with gentleness Rhys wished he could find reassuring.

Strong fingers gripped his chin, forcing his eyes away from his wound. Lips, slightly chapped and moving, pressing up just below his port.

“Just look at me, sweetheart. It’ll be okay.” Jack’s voice, though still hoarse, had softened considerable. He sounded more worried than angry, now, and the concern in his tone would’ve frightened Rhys more if not for the lips against his temple and the wave of Jack’s cologne distracted him from the burning, metallic stench of his wound. That was one of those things he’d noticed when he’d first set foot outside Concordia into the desolation of Elpis proper—the lack of smell. It’d unsettled him, leaving a truly alien weight in his chest.

Rhys clung to the smell and touch of his boyfriend, listening to Jack’s comforting words as Tim tended to his leg. Every press of fingers against his calf burned, and even when Tim finally found a decent enough spot to inject the healing hypo Rhys couldn’t help sobbing in pain at the feeling of the syringe digging into his ruined flesh. Tim caught his flesh hand as he depressed the hypo’s plunger with the other, squeezing Rhys’ trembling fingers as he pushed the glowing red fluid into Rhys’ bloodstream. It burned, though not as badly at the kraggon bite. Still, Rhys let a strangled cry, louder than his previous sobbing, eke out from between his teeth as his toes curled and scraped inside of his boots.

“Easy…easy, it’s almost over…” This time it was Tim who spoke, remaining firm and comforting even as Rhys practically crushed his hand in his grip. The young man’s entire body tensed and trembled as the hypo forcibly knit muscle and flesh back together and snapped his fractured bone back into alignment.

Then, suddenly, the epicenter of the pain faded, leaving only lingering twinges spreading out from the wound. Rhys gasped, body still trembling slightly from the adrenaline as he relaxed back against Jack’s chest.

“H….Holy _fuck_ …” Rhys spat out the swear without thinking, earning a small, reproachful squeeze on the shoulder.

“Lang—…you know, I’m just going to let that one slide.” Jack’s chuckle brushed against the top of Rhys’ head, followed by a firm kiss to his scalp. The young man couldn’t help but laugh lightly along with him, a touch hysterical.

“That…” Rhys swallowed roughly, mouth still tasting of stomach acid. “Was the _worst_ thing I’ve ever been through.”

“Well…All things considered, I think you did pretty well.” Tim patted Rhys’ knee, smile reassuring. “Honestly, I was worried if you freaked out too much you were gonna kick me and jam your heel in my eye.”

“And that’d have been a _lot_ more messy than some little kraggon nibble.”

“A _nibble_?” Rhys’ brow furrowed, glaring down at the patches of flesh regrown over his wound. “Jack, that was _hardly_ a nibble…”

“In any case, it’s gonna be a little tender for a bit, and you might have a hard time standing on it…” Tim commented as he carefully rolled Rhys’ cuff back down his leg. He raised his head to catch Jack’s eye. “Might have to put off the mission for another day or so…”

Rhys winced.

“You guys really don’t have to…I can like…just chill in Concordia or something…” He tried to hide the disappointment from his voice, but honestly, he was far too tired to do it in any meaningful fashion. He hated sounding whiny, but he’d honestly been looking forward to showing off and proving himself. And now he’d been put out of commission right off the bat.

He’d just about resigned himself when Jack grasped his chin and made him look up into the CEO’s eyes.

“You seriously think we’re just gonna drop you off after coming all this way?” Jack scoffed as he supported Rhys into a proper sitting position, before helping him to his feet with Tim’s help. “Nothing we have to do is super time intensive, kiddo. We can take another day to let you rest and relax before giving it another go.”

Rhys blushed as his boyfriends supported him on both sides, slowly helping him walk back the way they came. His leg smarted a bit with each step, but Jack and Tim helped keep his weight off of it as they hobbled off towards Concordia.

“Think of it this way,” Tim murmured gently in the young man’s direction, “once we get there, we can get you a new pair of lucky socks.”

Jack smirked and looked down to the singed garments in question, before patting Rhys’ back.

“Maybe ones that actually _work_ this time.”


End file.
